The LPGA’s lone match-play event came down to the No. 13 seed (Lauren Coughlin) vs. the No. 46 seed (Madelene Sagstrom) in Las Vegas. The star power for the 2025 T-Mobile Match Play was dimmed Friday when eight of the top 10 seeds failed to escape group play.
The top two of those 10 who did advance – Jenno Thitikul (2) and Angel Yin (10) – then ended up facing each other in quarterfinal matchup Saturday, with Yin winning 4 and 2.
Sunday started with the semifinals, pitting Ariya Jutanugarn (32) against Coughlin and Yin taking on Sagstrom. Jutanugarn on Friday eliminated world No. 1 and tournament top seed Nelly Korda, handing Korda her first match play loss.
Coughlin beat Jutanugarn 1 up and Sagstrom went on to beat Yin 4 and 2, setting up the Sunday afternoon final at Shadow Creek Golf Club.
Sagstrom took control early in the match with birdies on three straight holes – Nos. 4, 5 and 6 – to go 4 up. But Coughlin hung tough with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9. A Sagstrom double-bogey on the 11th knotted things up and Coughlin took her first lead of the match on the 12th hole with a par to Sagstrom’s bogey.
Sagstrom then won the 13th to tie it and the 16th to go back to a 1-up lead. She held serve from there and won the match and the $300,000 first-place prize.
“I’m exhausted and I bet Lauren is exhausted,” she said. “I worked so hard. All of us work so hard. I really struggled quite a lot, especially with my driver end of last year, and I worked so hard with Callaway and my coach, Hans.”
She then referenced bouncing back from a disappointing week outside Phoenix a week ago at the Ford Championship.
“It’s just such a nice feeling. I played pretty well last week and didn’t make the cut, but it’s just like it’s hard because everyone works hard because it’s tough out here,” she said. “It’s just fantastic feeling and it’s just knowing that all the hard work really did pay off.”
Coughlin was asked what she would take away from the week as runner-up.
“That I can play 72 holes in two days, which I didn’t know I could do that,” she said. “But, no, again, I think it’s just who I am as a player, is a grinder, and I fought all the way to the end.”
The LPGA has a week off before the JM Eagle Championship in Los Angeles. Then it’s the first women’s major of the year, the Chevron Championship, April 24-27 at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, outside Houston.
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